St. Patrick and St. Anthony, Watertown, NY

Monday, December 11, 2017

When I was asked by Fr. Murray if I’d be
willing to serve on this committee, I was excited about the opportunity to
represent the parishioners of Holy Family, honored to be asked to serve, and
curious as to what role I might play in the overarching process. As far as the
curiosity, I was unsure of the impact that I might have as some told me that
they believed that the outcome was predetermined.Nothing could have been further from the
truth, so I soon learned.

Our “mission” is given the challenges facing
the Diocese at large, in terms of decreased active participation in their faith
of Catholics, a decrease in vocations, and other factors, plan how to best
serve the Catholic Community of Watertown based on the assignment of one pastor
and one parochial vicar at some point in the future. Note that I said our
mission “is” as this is an ongoing process and I believe it will be continuous
as we adapt to ever-changing conditions. Though the Living Stones Committee may
evolve over time and at some point disband, I do believe that we, as a faith
community, will continue this mission.

As far as expectations, I began the
process with a belief that I was to be an advocate for my parish and try to
preserve the status quo. That belief quickly changed as I gained a better
understanding that our mission was to plan to serve the entire Catholic
community and not just our parish.

There are several things that I learned
during the meetings, but for the sake of brevity, I’ll focus on two:

First, I learned that the challenges
facing our parishes extend well beyond local, diocesan or even national levels.
The crisis facing the church is very broad. The Catholic population in the
United States has undergone some striking demographic shifts for several
decades. For example, the Catholic population has lost more members than it has
gained from religious switching. In fact, one in ten adults in the United
States is a former Catholic, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2009 report
“Faith in Flux.” We are now dealing with the impacts of these shifts both
locally and nationally. The Archdiocese of Hartford, Connecticut is in the
process of reducing their number of parishes from 212 to 147. The Diocese of
Trenton, New Jersey is in the process of merging 10% of its parishes. The
Archdiocese of New York has consolidated over 140 parishes since 2015. So, know
that Watertown, New York is not alone in its challenges.

Second, though many people are very
passionate about their faith community, there appears to also be a great amount
of either apathy or futility as evidenced by the lack of participation in these
town halls. The perceived apathy may be reflective of some of the challenges
that we face; namely, decreased active participation among the Catholic
community. We all need to reflect and talk to others who may not be present
here to attempt to identify why parishioners are seemingly apathetic about
potential changes among the parishes. This will help better inform our planning
process. I do realize that some of the perceived apathy may come from a feeling
of futility based on a belief that the decisions have already been made. Know
that this is not an accurate belief.We
had many spirited discussions within the Living Stones Committee and evaluated
feedback from the broader Catholic community as brought forward by committee
members. Thus, this plan has been informed by your feedback as given and there
was no predetermined outcome.

As for passion, though passion for faith
community can be a good thing, passion focused in the wrong manner can be
dangerous and lead to divisions within the Catholic community. This potential
is addressed in the First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians where he speaks to
Divisions in the Church as follows:

“I appeal to you, brethren, by the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no dissensions
among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment. For
it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there is quarreling among you,
my brethren. What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or I
belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Is Christ
divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?
I am thankful that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius; lest anyone
should say that you were baptized in my name. For Christ did not send me to
baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, lest the cross
of Christ be emptied of its power.”

Throughout this process, I learned that this
plan is about our Catholic Community meaning the Church as the Body of Christ.
Though we may have been baptized in Holy Family Parish, Saint Patrick Parish,
Saint Anthony Parish or any other, we were all baptized in the name of Jesus
Christ. We need to remember that going forward, and as we approach a day when
we may have to implement this plan, to avoid divisiveness among our Catholic
family. In the face of this crisis, we are all being called to serve and furthermore
to lead. The problems that face us are not solely the responsibility of the
Pope, the Cardinals, the Bishops, the Pastors or any one group or individual.
Rather, they are the responsibility of all of us. If we hope to leave a vibrant
church for our children and generations to come, then the solutions must come
from all of us and be supported by all of us. We all need to be pulling in the
same direction. So, I’ll leave you with two passages, one from the Old
Testament and one from the New Testament.

From The Book of Isaiah:
“Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am
doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a
way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

And, again, from the First
Letter of Paul to the Corinthians: “Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be
courageous, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.”